Cyclocross

ASI/Fuji America has announced plans to offer neutral support servicesat several U.S. cyclo-cross venues this season. The new Fuji Neutral CrossSupport Program will be offered through Northeast Racing Services.This season, Fuji's neutral 'cross support will initially be focused onEast Coast events, but is available to any promoter in North America. Theprogram remains in effect for the remainder of the 2003 cyclo-cross seasonand Fuji expects to offer a full schedule next year.The Fuji Neutral Cross program will be operated and run by Northeast Racing Services director, David Fike. The

There were both new and familiar faces on the podium at Canada’s national cyclo-cross championships in Vancouver on Sunday. Peter Wedge (Kona Factory) took his sixth national title in the men's race, while Wendy Simms (Steed Cycles-Frontrunners) won the women's competition in only her fifth-ever start in a cyclo-cross race. Mountain bike national champion Max Plaxton (Gears Racing) won the junior men's competition, while Kris Sneddon (Kona) took the Under-23 men's title. Wedge dominated the men's race, immediately breaking away from the field. After one lap he was 15 seconds ahead of a

After weeks of racing in unseasonably mild conditions, riders were finally greeted by cold, windy cyclo-cross weather as they arrived in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, for the Saturn Classic, the first day of a double-header weekend in the Vergegear.com Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-Cross Championship Series. The elite races started with a long road prologue that enabled Marianne Stover (Gearworks-Spin Arts) to establish a small gap by the time the women hit the pits for the first time. Sarah Uhl (Saturn) sat in second, a small gap between her and the rest of the field. While Stover and Uhl worried about

Belgian Sven Nijs (Rabobank) won the second round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series on Sunday at Sint-Michielsgestel, the Netherlands. The champion of Belgium beat countryman and world champ Bart Wellens, the runner-up at 10 seconds back. It was Nijs's 21st Superprestige victory, tying the record of compatriot Roland Liboton. Nijs and Wellens, winner of the series opener October 19 at Ruddervoorde, Belgium, are now tied for the overall series lead going into round three November 23 at Asper-Gavere, Belgium. – Copyright 2003/AFP Results from round two of the Superprestige series:1.

After spending most of Saturday’s Granogue Estate ‘cross race dangling in second place behind winner Todd Wells (Mongoose-Hyundai), Ryan Trebon (Kona-CCA) exacted his revenge on Sunday at the Prophecy Creek ‘Cross in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Trebon took his first elite ‘cross win in the second race of an East Coast UCI double-header, taking the win ahead of Wells. Trebon and Wells comprised half of a four-man break that went away early on the flat, fast course. Clif Bar duo Jackson Stewart and Andy Jacques-Maynes comprised the other half of the break, and looked set to take advantage of the

In another Belgian podium sweep, Sven Nijs drew first blood in the 2003-2004 World Cup with a two-centimeter sprint victory over world and defending World Cup champion Bart Wellens. Fellow Belgian Ben Berden led in the chase group, finishing this World Cup opener in Torino, Italy, ahead of Dutchman Richard Groenendaal and Belgian Sven Vanthourenhout. “I felt very good today, but I knew from the start that I must be tactically perfect and must have great luck," the new World Cup leader told VeloNews. "If I am not the winner, I could easily be 10th.” Wellens told VeloNews that he was not

When Nico Vouilloz and Anne-Caroline Chausson bowed out of the mainstream gravity scene, the possibilities opened back up for riders who carried something other than a French passport. But, at the inaugural Jeep King of the Mountains event, which paired male and female racers into “national” teams, Cedric Gracia (Siemens-Cannondale) and Sabrina Jonnier (Intense) recaptured the glory of yesteryear for France, taking both the men’s and women’s titles and a commanding lead in the country standings. The made-for-TV event, held in Wintergreen, Virginia on June 29, was the first of a three race

Enrico Franzoi said he had a lot of reasons to ride his heart out in the under-23 men’s world cyclo-cross championship on Saturday, but one was more important than all the others. To be sure, Franzoi said riding in front of the home crowd in Monopoli, Italy, offered ample motivation. But Franzoi said he was driven by a promise he made to his late mother this past August, and as it turned out, he had little difficulty keeping it. Franzoi was among the first to reach the critical first turn after a fast start up a slightly rising 600-meter stretch of pavement. “I started strong, like I

This weekend, a sandy, wind-blown stretch of beach right at the top of the heel of Italy’s “boot” will play host to cycling’s oddest annual pilgrimage: The world cyclo-cross championships. As always, the two-day bash will be heralded by bass bands, beer, frites and mayonnaise and the usual assortment of funny hats. Hotels and campgrounds around Monopoli, Italy have been filling up all week and caravans of those and giant European tour buses are filling parking lots throughout the area. The attraction is a grand total of three-and-a-half hours of racing, spread out over two days. And, as has

Bart Wellens led yet another Belgian sweep in cyclo-cross, this time at the fourth round of the UCI World Cup in Wetzikon, Switzerland on Sunday. Wellens - who won here two years ago, before the Swiss ‘cross classic earned World Cup status – was the first of a five-man group Belgians to take the top spots at one of the final warm-ups before the world championships in two weeks. With his win, his second World Cup victory of the year, Wellens takes over the top spot in the World Cup standings, leading defending world champion Mario De Clerq by 15 points. Wellens finished 29 seconds ahead of

National cyclo-cross championships were held throughout Europe on Sunday. As is usually the case, the most closely watched titles were up for grabs in Belgium and Holland, where Sven Nijs and Richard Groenendaal scored wins in the men’s events and Hilde Quintens and Daphny Van den Brand took the women’s titles.With Belgians taking four of the last five elite men’s world titles, Sunday’s race in Wielsbeke, Belgium, may be an indicator of the finishing order at the world championships in Monopoli, Italy on Febrary 2. Sven Nijs outsprinted fellow escapee Ben Berden, finishing 17 seconds ahead of

Belgian Sven Nijs took the third round of the UCI’s World Cup cyclo-cross series in Liévin, France on Sunday, after his Rabobank teammate, Dutchman Richard Groenendaal, encountered difficulties in the second half of the hour-long race. Groenendaal maintains the overall lead in the series and appeared set to win his second World Cup race of the season on Sunday as he powered out of an elite group of riders that included Nijs and world champion Mario de Clerq. Fast start-tough course The race began with a fast charge out of the field by Dutch champion Gerben de Knegt, but the Rabobank man

Richard Groenendaal finally broke the Belgian grip on international cyclo-crossSunday as he won the second round of the UCI World Cup in Kalmthout, Belgium.Racing in front of a crowd of 6000 spectators, the Dutch Rabobank ‘crossspecialist brought an element of suspense back into the discipline’s topseries, leaving the World Cup standings in a three-way tie between himself,Bart Wellens and world champion Mario de Clerq.Groenendaal celebrated his 12th ever World Cup in muddy conditions that areto said to be his specialty. Bart Wellens, winner of the opening World Cupround last month in

It’s been a long and active season on the American cyclo-cross scene this year. Despite the absence of a national series like the SuperCup, the U.S. schedule has offered a full selection of UCI-sanctioned races, leading up to this weekend’s Shimano-USCF Cyclo-cross National Championships at the Domaine Chandon vineyards in Napa, California. The UCI points earned at those events are a valuable commodity for riders hoping to make the U.S. team traveling to the world championships in Monopoli, Italy on the first weekend of February. Topping the list on the women’s side is ClifBar’s Carmen

Fine weather and a fast course welcomed star-studded fields to Napa Valley College for the final round of the Redline Cup of Cyclo-cross, on Sunday December 8, as series leaders Todd Wells and Gina Hall arrived to successfully defend their leads in the West coast series. With the national championships just a week away in nearby Yountville, the Redline Cup finals had dual implications: not only were the daily prizes and series win on the line, but the all-important “natz” starting positions and Worlds' team points also weighed heavily on racers’ minds. Riders battled on a fast course under

Five inches of snow in Southern New Hampshire did little to slow the action for the final round of the 2002 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series in Merrimack, where Mongoose-Hyundai’s Marc Gullickson wrapped up the series title with a convincing win. U.S. 40+ Champion Jodi Groesbeck scored her first win in a women’s series that has been dominated by Seven’s Mary McConneloug, who had already earned the series title, despite her absence on Sunday. Heavy TrafficCalling the Verge Series a priority, Gullickson flew to New England for the final time this year from his Boulder,

Thomas Frischknecht still has significant ties to the San Francisco Bay Area after a long career sponsored by Tom Ritchey and a quick visit to the Bay Area for the Coyote Point Cyclo-cross in San Mateo offered Frischknecht an opportunity to cross swords with some of the best homegrown talent. National Champion Todd Wells was on the start line, Saturn’s Tim Johnson, the Northern California Clif Bar team of Jackson Stewart and Andy Jaques-Maynes, Andy’s twin Ben and Justin Robinson the the Spokesmen/Bullion squad, and northwest powers from Kona/Kenwood Barry Wicks, Bart Bowen and Eric Tonkin

It is said that, when the cat is away, the mice will play, and that was, in a sense, almost literally the case Sunday at the Microsoft Seattle Metro Cyclo-cross Series in North Seatac, Wash. With Jonny “The Cat” Sundt, along with a handful of other top cyclo-cross racers, out of town for the Redline Cup in Salt Lake City, Steve Crosier (Redline) and Christi Berg (Bicycle Centre) took convincing wins over what was left of the local talent pool. It was the sixth round of the Metro Series, this round sponsored by Gregg’s Greenlake, with a course that was equal parts technical and power.

Spaarselect’s Bart Wellens won the opening round of the UCI World Cup for cyclo-cross in Frankfurt on Sunday. Wellens, who won last week’s third round of the Superprestige series, finished 13 seconds ahead of world champion Mario de Clerq and defending World Cup champion Sven Nijs. Dutchman Richard Groenendaal finished fourth, again missing the podium on the heels of a Belgian sweep. The four men remained close throughout the opening portion of the race, with Wellens and Nijs trading the lead. With two laps remaining, Wellens made a decisive attack, building a 10-second gap within 500

The UCI's five-race World Cup of cyclo-cross kicks off this Sundaywith the Grand Prix of Frankfurt. Earlier this year, we had a chance tospeak with the series’s technical director Adri Van der Poel about whathe has in mind for this season, for the future and for the sport in general.When he took over his current job two years ago, Van der Poel said he wasready to make changes: changes in course design, changes in the scheduleand, “hopefully, some changes in attitude.” With more than 20 years of mud-slogging and barrier-hopping behind him,the Dutch superstar brought a rider’s perspective to